Pub-goers on the New South Wales north coast will be resting their glasses atop artworks and messages promoting awareness of violence against women.

The coasters were designed by Year 10 students from Southern Cross K-12 School in Ballina and Alstonville High School as part of the Ballina-Byron Family Centre's Love Bites program.

Messages are printed on coasters which will be distributed to Ballina Shire pubs and clubs for the White Ribbon 16 Days of Activism to Stop Violence against Women, which ends on Human Rights Day (December 10).

Project co-ordinator Lisa Gray said Love Bites was a domestic violence and sexual assault prevention program run in local high schools.

"The idea was, after they'd done an education component and awareness-raising on domestic violence and sexual assault, they then have an opportunity to develop these coasters," Ms Gray said.

"The students were so passionate and so involved in these artworks and they really wanted to get their message out into the community."

Some of the messages include 'No does not mean convince me' and 'Silence hides violence'.

The coasters have the students' designs on the front and the message 'Never violent, never silent' on the back, alongside phone numbers for support services.

"We're hoping people will pick them up, put them in their bags and take them home," Ms Gray said.

"They're also planted all over social media. It's really bringing awareness to domestic violence."

The students were also among about 100 people to participate in a White Ribbon Day walk in Ballina, which has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in the state.

Ballina Domestic Violence liaison committee spokesman Peter Rawson said there had been an 8 per cent rise in domestic violence incidents on the New South Wales far north coast since 2012.

"We need to make women's safety and women's equality a men's issue because when we do that, we engage men on the issue and it means we can take opportunities to support young people, especially boys, to understand that treating women equally and having equal relationships is a cornerstone of how we get on top of this problem," Mr Rawson said.

"The more men that attend and get engaged in activities that promote safety and equality for women, the more change we're going to have in the attitude that drives violent behaviour."

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